Both of their faces were now covered in mud, their bodies filthy and disheveled, bearing no resemblance to the refined young gentlemen they usually appeared to be.
Athrun, who had been lifted up, quickly calmed down, while Yzak continued to flail wildly.
"Enough! Stop it!"
With only one free hand, Fred resorted to a headbutt aimed directly at Yzak's forehead.
Thump—a louder impact than before echoed through the air.
"Ugh..."
In pain, Yzak finally stopped struggling, resembling a fish out of water.
Is Yzak... really like a broken appliance?
Fred inwardly complained. Meanwhile, Athrun lifted his head discontentedly.
"Brother, who is he?"
His usually cool voice now carried a hint of grievance, and his handsome eyes were slightly swollen.
It wasn't hard to imagine they would soon be bruised.
"I'm your uncle!"
"...Yzak."
Fred's tone grew stern.
"Hmph!"
"He's our neighbor."
Seeing that Yzak had fallen silent, Fred finally explained.
"A neighbor... He's nowhere near as good as Kira..."
Athrun muttered under his breath, enduring the pain.
Kira was small and spoke gently—nothing like this person, who had a terrible attitude and hit so hard.
He had spent so much time with Kira and never once fought with him.
Though, to be fair, he hadn't held back either and hadn't let the other gain the upper hand.
"Go take a bath and apply some medicine."
Seeing the two still glaring at each other with hostility, Fred set them down and added,
"From now on, you'll both be attending classes together. Save your arguments for later. For now, go home and clean up!"
"What!?"
Yzak exclaimed.
"I have to take classes with him!?"
Athrun's voice rose, not to be outdone by Yzak's.
As two children whose first meeting had been far from pleasant, neither could hide their displeasure at the news.
"Are you scared?"Hearing Athrun's voice overpower his, Yzak shot back with a provocative look."
"Hmph, I'm afraid you'll get beaten up every day and run crying to your mom."
"What did you say!?"
Seeing them on the verge of fighting again, Fred felt a headache coming on.
He hadn't expected Athrun's sharp tongue to awaken so quickly.
But recalling what he'd read before, this Athrun seemed to have constantly provoked Yzak—who saw him as a rival—back at the military academy.
Yzak could never win against him, making his situation rather pitiable.
His later recklessness was probably an attempt to prove himself.
While focusing on his own growth, Fred thought it would be best to work on correcting Yzak's temperament.
"Alright, you can fight as much as you want later. I'll be your combat instructor."
Fred calmly dropped the bombshell that left both of them stunned.
"Really!?"
"What!?"
The hostility between them vanished instantly, replaced by visible excitement.
Even in preparatory school, combat wasn't part of the curriculum.
One wanted to grow stronger to protect his family, while the other longed to fight and surpass Fred. The news ignited their enthusiasm, making them temporarily forget their taunts.
"Really."
Fred guessed that Athrun's father probably wanted his son to learn some ancient martial arts for self-defense.
Military techniques certainly possess greater lethality.
However, they're too lethal to teach to such young children.
One can't possibly teach a nine-year-old liver explosion, peach stealing, and eye gouging.
Fred's Wing Chun, although also requiring intense daily practice and having some focus on striking vital points, carries much less lethal intent.
Though seeing it for the first time, Patrick had the discernment to recognize its value.
Wing Chun served as an excellent transitional martial art—sufficient for both physical conditioning and self-defense.
Moreover, it was a lost ancient martial art with a more prestigious reputation.
As for Yzak, since they all belonged to the Zala Faction, approval naturally followed.
Flay joined them for both academic and combat classes, though her curriculum was relatively simpler.
After all, Flay was just a Natural and couldn't possibly keep up with these two elite second-generation Coordinators.
But if Flay wanted to learn, he could teach her.
As for whether these private lessons came with diplomas?
Not only was her father the most powerful figure in PLANT, but his own capabilities were sufficient to help his sister overcome any diploma-related obstacles.
After Fred spent some time explaining everything, the two eventually returned to their respective homes.
Fred accompanied Athrun to the neighboring house.
"Teacher Lenore."
"...Fred, what happened to Athrun?"
Seeing Athrun in such disheveled clothing, Lenore, who had intended to discuss business directly, couldn't help but ask.
"He got into a fight with Yzak from next door."
Fred naturally excluded himself from the account.
"Don't worry, Teacher, I'll keep an eye on them."
"Well... I'm counting on you."
Fred was reliable, and although Lenore felt some heartache seeing her son like this, he appeared able to run and jump without any serious issues.
After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Lenore got straight to business.
"The experiment should restart in two days at the earliest."
When discussing serious matters, Lenore's willow-leaf eyebrows would arch, her eyes bearing some resemblance to Athrun's.
"Crop Number Seventeen has been successfully decoded, but there won't be a Number Eighteen waiting for us."
"Most research has been ordered to cease in the main urban area."
"Have they noticed something?" Fred asked with a frown.
"We have been rather active lately, but that's not for us to worry about."
Lenore shook her head and continued.
"The current priority is modifying the crops to better adapt to the space colony's subtropical climate."
"I'll provide you with all the space colony's climate parameters. Our main focus remains maintaining the microbial community balance within the closed system at the lowest possible cost."
"We must reduce costs as much as possible."
Microbial communities are crucial, especially in space where nothing is truly Earth-like—the gravity is artificial, the sunlight is simulated.
Microbes are extremely prone to collapse, which can trigger crop diseases or ecosystem failure.
Of course, their plantation area was a completely closed experiment.
But every system collapse meant starting over from scratch.
They currently possessed the technology to maintain microbial community diversity, but it came at a great cost.
Even the current wealth of Coordinators couldn't sustain it.
This cost-effectiveness isn't even as good as importing at high prices through pro-PLANT countries from Earth, which would be much easier.
Therefore, cost reduction and efficiency improvement are the main directions for the future.
"Understood."
Fred took the documents before him, quickly scanned through them, and nodded in agreement.
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